The Citrus Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest is home to some of Central Florida's most rugged terrain. Several major sinkholes and numerous caves are spread throughout the hilly Citrus Tract. The Citrus Trail, one of Florida's longest and most popular backpacking trails, is a 42-mile loop trail that passes near the perimeter of the Citrus Tract. Numerous forest roads crisscross the tract with many different starting points possible. For the convenience of day hikers, three cross-trails intersect the loop, providing shorter hiking opportunities. The southernmost loop of the Citrus Trail - Loop D - accesses one of the area's most unique sights: Dames Cave, a limestone cave with two chambers, a large open one and a smaller closed one. In addition to traversing dozens of rolling sandhills, Loop D of the Citrus Trail also passes through a bizarre rocky landscape in the vicinity of a broad sink known as Lizzie Hart Sink. This hike occurred on Saturday, July 29th, 2017. My plan was to hike Loop D of the Citrus Trail counter-clockwise from the Road 18 crossing. I would take the side trail to Dames Cave along the way.

About Me

Mark OlegMy name is Mark,​I am 16 years old, and I've been hiking since 2011. I started by hiking occasionally short trails in the Georgia State Parks, as I live in Atlanta. Then in 2012, I expanded my trips into other states of the Southeast. During the year of 2013, I started hiking more in the National Forests and especially in the Carolinas and Tennessee. My other hobbies include chess, science, meteorology, and music. In fact, I am a weather forecaster with 3 years of experience. I am a student at European School of Music where I learned that music and nature have a lot in common. Listening to good music inspires me to capture nature's beauty on the camera in different aspects that also make me recall many beautiful music pieces that I've heard.